There are numerous inefficiencies that hinder the sale of new and used products today. The inefficiencies affect various marketplace participants such as consumers of new products, consumers of pre-owned products, and product suppliers. The affects include: (i) reducing the ability of consumers of new products from readily disposing of previously purchased products so that they may obtain the newest products available on the market; (ii) impeding consumers of pre-owned products from having access to the widest selection and highest quality pre-owned products on the market; and (iii) impeding product suppliers from maximizing their resources.
With respect to consumers of new products, a number of these consumers prefer to own products that incorporate the latest technology or the latest fashion. However, because manufacturers are continually introducing new products to the market that incorporate ever improved technology or fashion, products that are relatively new often become “outdated” within a few years or even a few months.
In addition, other consumers of new products will purchase products that fulfill their immediate needs, but become inadequate to serve those needs after a relatively short period of time. As an example, consider a consumer who utilizes specialized software in their business. After a period of time, the manufacturer of the software will release new revisions of the software that incorporate important changes in functionality. For the software to operate properly, however, the software requires a computer with more memory or computing power. In order to remain competitive, the consumer is forced to purchase the new revision of the software and, consequently, must upgrade to a new computer system. Upgrading the computer system of even a small business can necessitate the spending of many thousands of dollars to purchase several personal computers, network hardware, and computer servers.
Furthermore, consumers will often purchase new products that become unnecessary to them because of a change in their circumstances. For example, a consumer may initially purchase a riding lawn mower for maintaining the lawn of a particular property. Thereafter, the consumer may move to a residence having a smaller lawn or no lawn at all. In such a situation, the consumer may decide to sell the riding lawn mower. In this situation, the sale of the product is typically difficult to accomplish, and often results in the receipt of an unsatisfactory price for the product.
To obviate the above-described problems confronting consumers of new products, such consumers may obtain new products through, for example, lease agreements. Lease agreements provide consumers the advantage of being able to return the product to the lessor after a predetermined amount of time. A disadvantage of lease agreements, however, is that they provide little flexibility to consumers. For example, the time period in which a consumer can ultimately purchase the product and the amount to be paid therefor are typically fixed. In addition, the consumer typically gains no equity in the product and, therefore, receives no “credit” for the product when it is returned to the lessor.
An alternate way in which consumers of new products attempt to obviate the above-described problems is by finding purchasers for their pre-owned products so they can sell the unwanted products themselves. Thereafter, if consumers so choose, they can purchase a replacement product. A disadvantage of this alternative is that it is difficult to find purchasers that are willing and able to purchase pre-owned products. Yet another alternative is for consumers of new products to forego purchasing new products altogether and deal with their need in another way. Consumers can pay a service to perform the tasks that the new products would have performed. For example, a consumer may decide not to upgrade to a higher quality washer/drier because the initial cost is high. Instead he may opt to take clothing to a professional dry cleaner/launderer. Even though the professional service is more expensive in the long run, the consumer saves himself from the large initial cost.
Consumers of pre-owned products often prefer to purchase pre-owned products because they either lack the need for the latest technology, they are thrifty, or they are unable to afford the higher costs associated with purchasing new products. As noted above, consumers of pre-owned products do not readily gain access to the widest selection and highest quality products on the market. Therefore, they do not get the best deals that would otherwise be available to them if they had such access. In addition, because of the present inefficiencies in transferring pre-owned products from their original owners to the consumers of pre-owned products, any warranty coverage that may be associated with a pre-owned product is significantly reduced or even lost altogether.
Regarding retailers, although they are probably in the best position to penetrate the market for which they have products, they often fall short in maximizing the potential of this position. This is due in large part to their inefficient use of valuable information concerning their customers in their daily business operations.
In an attempt to remedy some of the problems described above, Gateway 2000 (N. Sioux City, S.D.) has started a program entitled Your:)WareSM. This program allows a consumer to purchase a new Gateway computer today and, after between two and four years, trade in the computer for credit toward another new Gateway computer. To qualify for the program, a customer must either commit to six months of Gateway's Internet service, add one or more extra software bundles, or finance the purchase through Gateway's financing plan. This approach is lacking in that it provides only a single two-year period in which a customer can purchase a new computer and trade in the old one. In addition, customers can buy and trade in only Gateway computers.
Another system which may remedy some of the problems described above is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,265 to Woolston (“'265 patent”). The '265 patent discloses a method and apparatus for creating a computerized market for pre-owned and collectible goods. The method and apparatus includes a plurality of posting terminals networked with a consignment node. The consignment node includes a database of pre-owned goods. The system purports to allow the purchaser to purchase a pre-owned good, change the price of the good, and resell the good through the consignment node. The '265 patent, however, does not provide an efficient system wherein consumers may readily dispose of previously purchased products so that they may obtain the newest products available on the market.
An auction service that allows consumers to bid against consumers is the Internet site eBay™ operated by eBay, Inc. (San Jose, Calif.). The auctions in eBay™ last from three (3) to seven (7) days. Participants must register with eBay Inc. Just as traditional auctions operate, the auctioned item goes to the highest bidder. The highest bidder and the seller contact each other directly after the auction is over to finalize the purchase. The system provided by eBay's™ is lacking because it also fails to provide an efficient system wherein consumers may readily dispose of previously purchased products so that they may obtain the newest products available on the market. In addition, because the consumers must contact each other to finalize the sale, eBay™ does not maintain control of the immediate transaction or any future transactions that evolve therefrom.
The above described attempts fall short of eliminating the numerous inefficiencies in the marketplace that must be confronted by consumers of new products, consumers of pre-owned products, and suppliers of products. Thus, there is a need for a system and method that will solve the shortcomings of the prior art described above.